Sharing the Spirit of Christmas Year-Round

Christmas Bucket List

This morning I was trying to decide what I wanted to post about today. I had a lot of ideas but then as I was working in the yard I had a new idea. Bucket List! Natalie and I have been talking about our love and excitement for Christmas now for 6 months. We’ve talked and written a lot about what we do, we like, we know, and we wish. But what about our dream to do list for Christmas, you know, a Christmas Bucket List? I will be challenging Natalie to create said list as soon as she returns from her journeys. This will be our dream list of the Christmas things we hope to do in our lifetime. Here’s my first one…

Visit St. Peter’s Basilica for Christmas mass. St. Peter’s is the largest Christian church in the world and a center of Catholicism. It covers 5.7 acres and can seat thousands. It took 120 years to build and is sadi to be the burial site for the apostle Peter, its namesake. With all that space getting in would be easy, right? Just get to Rome and make your way to the church and wait in line. Nope! It is like a quest from the crusades to find out how to get the elusive Christmas tickets for a Papal mass. Now if you want to go for a regular mass at the Basilica, Pope or no Pope, there are daily masses at 8:30, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 5:00. On Sunday you can choose between 9:00, 10:30, 11:30, 12:15, 1:00, 4:00, 5:00 and 5:45. If you want confession, that’s daily. To get these tickets, according to a site for visitors, you just go to St. Pete’s Square and find the bronze doors to the Apostolic Palace and request tickets from the Swiss Guard. I wonder if there is a password needed?! The site directs readers that wish Christmas or Easter mass tickets to go to the site for the Church of Santa Susanna, the home of the American Catholic Church in Rome. But if you read closely on that site they let you know in no uncertain terms that they cannot help you with tickets for Christmas or Easter because “having to sit and tell people that they are not going to Saint Peter’s and experiencing their hurt and anger is just too much for us”. They do let you know that your best hope is to contact the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan at the Bishop’s Office for U.S. Visitors , Office of the Vatican in Rome. You may make your request by fax or email. Don’t expect a reply to or conformation of your request, there are simply too many! So how will I be able to know that I can get these tickets for my trip? Plan far in advance and pray, pray a lot!